(Minghui.org) When Mr. Zhou Yubao went to his bank to get his statements on January 12, 2021, he was surprised to find that the local social security office had suspended his pension since August 2020.
Between January 21 and February 19, 2021, the Deyang City, Sichuan Province resident went to the social security office four times to inquire of what had happened to his pension.
The staff members claimed that according to a notice issued in 2006, all Falun Gong practitioners sentenced for their faith aren’t entitled to the pension payments while serving time.
Falun Gong is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The staffers claimed that because Mr. Zhou served three years between 2012 and 2015, they are now demanding him to pay back the pension he had received during that time.
Mr. Zhou argued that if the notice had been issued on January 1, 2006, why did the authorities wait until 2021 to implement it. And also since his prison term was between 2012 and 2015, why didn't the authorities withhold his pension back then and why did they wait five years afterward before asking him to pay it back? He added that the notice is only a notice and not legally binding. The official Chinese labor law has never stipulated that people serving time can’t receive their pension.
Mr. Zhou said that his pension is his own personal property, which he earned during his working years and not something bestowed by the government or any other individual. He said it’s illegal for the social security office to suspend his pension.
Mr. Zhou also said that the persecution of Falun Gong didn’t have any legal basis and that he should never have been imprisoned for his faith in the first place.
The social security office staffers refused to listen to him or read relevant materials he had prepared. Instead, they tried to get him to sign a settlement letter, which stated that his pension payment would restart in March, but the 682.51 yuan monthly increase would be erased, leaving him with 2660.01 yuan each month. He still has to pay back the 121,643 yuan he had received during his imprisonment, which the officials are yet to prepare another contract for. They said he could make a lump-sum payment or by installments.
Mr. Zhou refused to sign the letter.
Mr. Zhou went to the Deyang City Petition Office on March 5 and filed a complaint against the suspension of his pension. The staff member he talked to said she had never heard about people serving time that can’t receive their pension. She asked Mr. Zhou to come back four days later to talk to the director overseeing the complaints against the social security office.
Mr. Zhou returned to the petition office on March 9 and talked to director Kuang. Kuang made notes of his case and promised to get back to him. It’s not clear whether Mr. Zhou has received a response from Kuang at the time of writing.
Related reports:
Deyang City Intermediate Court in Sichuan Province Frames Good People and Deceives Their Families
Deyang Intermediate Court Judge Ignorant of the Law--Update on Zhou Yubao's Appeal
Chief Judge of Criminal Tribunal Obstructs Lawyer from Representing Falun Gong Client
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